Monsters of Television

In case you missed it, House, MD was finally renewed after some minor squabbling and some folks taking some pay cuts. Here to discuss what that means for us, the audience, are Matt and Nick

Matt: SO. Finally. Season 8.

Nick: The only thing really surprising is how long it took to get there.
It’s not like they were going to cancel House. Even if Donal Logue was on it.

(Which, I think is in the TV rulebooks that, if Donal Logue makes an appearance, the show has to be cancelled)

Matt: So what would happen if he were to be on a show with Summer Glau?

Nick: That episode would never make it to air.

Although there would be leaked photos of Summer Glau.

Matt: Mmmm. I’m okay with this.

Nick: And if that episode was written by Tim Minnear, well, that would have to be burned.

Matt: So back to point: yes it’s not surprising House was renewed but it is surprising that it took so long.
The root seems to be contract negotiations with the stars.

Nick: And the licensing fee between Universal and Fox.

Is it FOX?

Or can it just be Fox?

Matt: It’s FOX.

Bold as well if you please.

Nick: They are so bold.

Matt: And brave as well. It’s brave right?

Nick: I think so.

Anyway, word on the street is that Omar Epps, Lisa Edelstein, and Robert Leonard took pay cuts in order for the show to come back.

Note that no one asked Chase or Taub to take a pay cut because I assume they work for peanuts.

Literally.

Beggers can’t be choosers.

Matt: Maybe in return for taking a paycut they’ll give Chase some actually story next year.

Taub, on the other hand, has had great material.

The best cast news has to be that Olivia Wilde is contractually tied to an eighth season. I would have guessed she was the holdout cause she wanted to get the fuck out.

Nick: I think she really digs it there. Or else she’s acting like she does. Stupid actors and their ability to lie.

But she and Hugh have the most leverage.

Olivia Wilde clearly is rocketing to being a powerful player and Hugh is kind of the face of the series.
Everyone else kind of has to bow to them right now.
I’m a little surprised Leonard took the biggest pay cut (according to Nikki Finke) because his recent interview somewhere [on TVLine. – Ed.] kind of describes him as not interested in the show beyond it being a job.

I think he literally says somewhere, “I like being paid.”
Only thing I can consider is that they think the last season of House is something worth coming back for.

Matt: And as much as I love the show, I’m hoping this will in fact be the last season.
While I have thoroughly enjoyed season 7, probably my favorite after 3, I just think it’s time.
There’s only so much you can do with a character who cannot change.

Nick: And it’s different from having a character that isn’t inspired enough to change or that the creators aren’t smart enough to develop. It’s just that House can’t change because that’s kind of the end of the show.

If the show is about House’s redemption, his finally achieving something outside of misery is the end of everything.
They’ve explored several avenues and we’ve been along for those rides. But we live in a post-Huddy world and that was the last great journey for him.

Matt: Unless that is the endgame.

Nick: Right. I see reconciliation in their future.

Matt: If he does find his redemption, if he does indeed change, then he can still end up with Cuddy.

But that would HAVE to be the end.
And that seems like a likely path to take given that his decline right now seems to be a result of his breakup with Cuddy.

Nick: Seems to be? Has Wilson not hit you over the head enough with that hypothesis?

Matt: I know, I know.

So yes, that IS what is going on.

Nick: Deadline’s saying this is the last season. That interview with Robert Leonard also hints that any continuance of their contracts would only last a year.

8 seasons is solid. They’ve already sold a ton into syndication.
It’s the perfect show for other networks [to buy for syndication] but too many stars want to fly away [for the show to continue providing episodes for those syndication deals into perpetuity].

Matt: I say we let them go. At least they’ll get to have an ending.

Nick: What intrigues me, though, is what they’ll do for the last season. Because just them being renewed, no end in sight, would be an “ugh” moment for us. Kind of like how we were with How I Met Your Mother.

Matt: Ugh.

Nick: Not because we hate the show or because we think it should end.

But because we’re very ready for the end.

Matt: Right. It’s just a “What the hell are they going to do now?”

Not that we don’t have faith in the writing staffs.

Nick: And with it being the last season, and letting the writers cook up something where there’s no tomorrow, [this] is kind of exciting to me.
You can really go to work on these characters and this story, really knock them around and torture them.

Matt: And as I’ve said in previous House discussions of ours: I think House needs to die in the end.
I’m all for reconciliation, and while this would be a great 8 year journey for him I don’t get the feeling that is what the show is REALLY about.

I think this terrible, self-destructive man needs to self-destruct in the end.

Nick: So you think that the show isn’t about his redemption so much as it is about a man that can only implode. No hope for our protagonist.

Matt: Yep. At this point I think his redemption is too much of a neat little bow at the top of a present that we don’t want.

House cannot change. From a character standpoint and from an audience expectation standpoint so to do it in the end would seem odd.

To put it lightly.

Nick: See, I disagree. As much as I hated seeing Huddy, I think its demise sets it up for House understanding that Cuddy isn’t just what he wants, she’s who he needs. And we both know that song is going to be playing over the final scene.

Matt: Obviously.

Nick: And I’m not sure if sweet death is what he needs.

Matt: I didn’t say it would be sweet.

Nick: Death in general even.

Matt: I want Cuddy crying over his body because of how stupid he is and I want 13 to follow down a path of destruction and I want Foreman to punch a hole in a wall because he realizes that that’s the end for people like he and House.

I want it to hurt. I want it to be tragic.

Or something. I dunno.

Nick: Did we switch bodies?
Because I’m almost certain that we won’t get any of that.

I think this series will end with a nice bow. House will find his redemption with Cuddy after a very serious and dark season for him. Season 8 will be his dark wood and Wilson will be his Virgil.

Matt: Damn warm and fuzzy network TV.

It’s appropriate, but the lesser ending.

Nick: The only tragedy I can see is if [Thirteen starts showing] her Huntington’s in 8.

Matt: Oh god. OH GOD. They’re totally gonna kill 13 next year!
And it’s going to be a catalyst of change in both House and Foreman.
Oh god, Nick, I don’t want it.

Nick: It’s going to happen.

We probably won’t see her die. But we’ll see the beginning of her degeneration to demonstrate how brave she is.

Maybe we’ll get a scene like Dr Kevin Casey washing his hands in Scrubs.
But Thirteen’s disease catching up with her sounds like an easy emotional beat for the season.

Like they’ll go to the whiteboard with that being a given.

Matt: I can see it.

I’m crying already.
Cameron return in the final season? (I like how we’re already assuming this is the final season)

Not likely I’m thinking.

Nick: You don’t think?

There’s got to be something for Chase.

Matt: And you think it lies with Cameron?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Cameron (post season 2) more than anyone else but her exit was realistic and I can’t think of why she would come back.
They already exercised (see: wasted) the story with her taking over for Cuddy, which should have been a small arc, not just an episode, so I have no idea why she would come back.

Nick: Maybe in a High Fidelity sort of way. Chase has to go back to Cameron to figure out why he’s so broken.

Matt: So then I’m back to my question: Is the point of Chase his relationship with Cameron? Is that the be-all end-all for those characters. Are they destined to be in that church together in the end?

Nick: I don’t think they get back together. But I think Cameron makes an appearance.
I don’t think this is Lost where all the people that pass through PPTH are destined to be together forever. But, if I were a writer on the show, I’d want her to come back for the swan song.

Matt: As would I. I just don’t see how right now.

But yes, the just can’t be together again. He fucked up and it should stay broken.

I guess I just want bad things for these people in the end.

Nick: Because they’re all tragic characters?

Matt: Yep.

Nick: I think that’s what this show is based around, that all these characters exhibit some sort of tragic flaw, mostly an offshoot of hubris.

So we always expect bad things to befall them.
And why hopeful characters that pass through look so starkly different by comparison.

It’s why Masters was such a “One of these things is not like the others” characters, something they hit hard on her last episode.

Matt: And even she had a sad ending. Poor Masters. Poor hopeful, uncorrupted, naive Masters.

Nick: But my only issue is that, while these characters have tragic flaws, they don’t earn tragedy like other tragic characters do.
The only one that earns it is House, and even he has a heart of gold. Deep down. Somewhere. Probably next to the heart that is totally into hookers.

Matt: Well Chase has earned it. He’s all hubris and entitlement and it’s finally taken its toll. He’s never measured up to Foreman, he lost Cameron, and he’s been unable to find happiness even in heaps of meaningless sex.

And Taub certainly deserves it, the little philanderer.

Nick: But Taub is sorry for it. Like he’s sheepish and knows he done wrong.
And, with that episode a week ago with the Foreman vs Chase nonsense, we can see them feeling some sort of remorse.
And tragic characters don’t recognize remorse until it’s too late.
I love the idea of these characters suffering. Don’t get me wrong.
And I don’t think that everyone will escape with a pretty pink bow.
I think if this is the last season, everyone escapes with a light at the end of the tunnel.
It’s not like we’re going to see House walk down a hall of his former patients and see his future projected on a screen set to “Book of Love” by Peter Gabriel.

Matt: Except for if it’s in a drug induced dream sequence.

Nick: We’ll end the series with a glimmer of hope for everyone.

Except Thirteen because she’s dying.

How awesome would it be if they did an episode of House in the style of Scrubs?

Matt: They set up the possibility with the sitcom segment earlier this season.

I’d love to see it.

Nick: Taub and Foreman with their Guy Love.

House as Dr Cox (natch).

Cuddy = Dr Kelso
Thirteen = Elliot or Carla?

Matt: Carla.

Can it be a Scrubs Musical episode? Hugh Laurie’s got the chops.

Nick: I don’t think anyone else, other than Leonard, does.

Matt: If Grey’s Anatomy can poorly attempt to do it, so can House.

Olivia Wilde can probably sing. All angels can.

Nick: God bless her but, if I read her tweets correctly, I’m not sure that she does.

Matt: Ah. I should have known to refer to my Wilde Encyclopedia before speculating.

That’s you, Nick.

Nick: Well, I like to be well-informed of the person fated to be with me.
It’s part of the burden of our destiny.

Matt: I think this is the point where we stop before you reveal any information that could result in a restraining order against you.

Nick: So, bottom-line, we’re happy it’s coming back for one more season. But only if it’s coming back for one more season.

Matt: Precisely, my dear Wilson.